Monthly Archives: September 2014

We are The Wagon is a comedy production and distributon company. They produce comedy content, whether for online, TV or other distribution and have worked with a variety of well-known comedians such as Jack Whitehall, Simon Amstell and Jonathan Ross. They have just finished a project for broadcast on Channel 4, and have some more exciting work coming up.

The Wagon are currently looking for an aspiring (specifically) comedy writer to apply for an internship placement, with pay of £100pw. They would want applicants to submit examples of their work, be it a short script or a comedy film you wrote etc.

NTC Touring Theatre Company has received funding from ACE Grants for the Arts to produce ‘4THOUGHTS’: MYTH, MUSIC, MAYHEM AND MIRTH – An evening of 4 short new plays which will tour the Northern Region in March 2015 and seeks writers of new plays/musicals.

Writers may have had some professional productions of their work or may be complete beginners, this is an open competition process.

The 4 successful writers will have the opportunity to see their work professionally produced and will be paid an inclusive fee of £1,000.

Plays must last no longer than a half hour

Plays must be suitable to tour to intergenerational village hall audiences 15+ as well as theatre audiences.

Plays will be for 6 actors 3m 3f, (though more characters are possible with doubling) 2 of the actors will be trainees most likely under 25 and 2 parts should be written for older actors (50-60).

Plays will be directed by Gillian Hambleton, Artistic Director of NTC.

Selected playwrights will be mentored and supported by published playwright and novelist Ann Coburn.

Plays/musicals will reflect the maxim that ‘specificity breeds universality’ Miro, and NTC’s mission statement, whilst continuing to push the boundaries of theatre.

a one page synopsis of your idea for the half hour play/musical (please note if you are chosen to work on this project, they cannot guarantee your idea will be produced, you may need to modify it to ensure it fits in with the whole project)

The first 20 pages of a script you have previously written

A writing CV or reason why writing a play is important to you at this moment.

Sing London have commissioned some of the UK’s most celebrated writers and actors to create monologues for iconic statues across London and Manchester.

Now it’s the public’s turn to put words into the mouths of statues! Four statues are still awaiting the gift of speech! Sing London is teaming up with Audible.co.uk to give budding writers the chance to bring these statues to life with the Talking Statues Public Writing Competition:

– Shakespeare in the British Library

– Isis in the Royal Parks

– Leaping Hare in Broadgate

– Stan the T-Rex in Manchester Museum.

What do you think is on their minds?

How to apply: please submit a short monologue, maximum 400 words, from the perspective of your chosen competition statue. The expert judging panel will be looking for originality, factual accuracy and entertainment value so keep this in mind when writing. The winning pieces will be recorded by well-known actors and included as part of Talking Statues, ready to chat in time for Christmas. They’ll talk for a whole year! Winners will also be invited along to their monologue recording and receive a copy of the final recorded script to keep.

Origins Theatre Company, based in the Isle of Wight, is looking for original 15 minute plays on the theme of ‘Turning the Tables’.

Six winners will receive £50 cash; the reward of seeing their play published; brought to the stage at a special event on the Isle of Wight in Spring 2015; lots of publicity; and the prospect of further performances by Origins Theatre Company.

Submission Guidelines:

Your submission must be a single scene using a bare set with no more than a couple of tables and four chairs, and a maximum of four characters and it can run for no more than 15 minutes.

Your submission can be in any genre – comedy, tragedy, thriller, satire, anything you like, but it must be entirely YOUR work and something that has never been performed before.

Entries must not include material that could be construed as offensive in terms of race, sexual orientation or religious faith

Entries must be printed single sided and double spaced on white A4 paper.

Each sheet should be numbered, and have a header including your surname and the title of the mini-play.The first sheet should have only the following information:

Your Name

Your Address

Your Email & Contact Number

The Title of Your Mini-Play

Synopsis No Greater Than 200 Words.

Entries must be accompanied by a cheque made payable to ‘Original Theatre’ (our previous name and the one that is on our bank account for the time being!) for £7.50. You can submit up to three entries, as long as the fee is paid for each one.

Why is genre important and how can it affect your screenplay? This thorough, two-hour session with established screenwriter and tutor Gabriella Apicella will be discussing the importance of genre in direct reference to the industry. Find out how genre functions to make your script better from outline stage, all the way through to production. Learn why genre is so crucial to the industry if you want your script to make it to the big screen.

Her work has been made into short films, used for experimental theatre projects, and even been commissioned for a sound art installation.

Gabriella has been on the board of Euroscript for 6 years, for whom she
regularly teaches and offers consultancy services. Her work with this Script Development organisation has seen her deliver sessions about the craft for the BFI and London Screenwriters Festival. Other teaching assignments include work at organisations such as Birkbeck College, University of London, the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, and Eaves for Women.

A dedicated activist for equality and human rights, Gabriella is currently producing short film”Honest Lies” based on an original short story written by a woman involved in prostitution who attends one of Gabriella’s writing workshop. In 2010 she also co-produced the short film “Hooray for Hollywood” with the aim to raise awareness about the industry surrounding the production of pornographic images of children. The premiere screening of the film took place at Amnesty International Headquarters.

Gabriella has written for National events listings site Remote Goat, Pure Movies, For Books’ Sake, and the Arts Council funded paper and website Notes from the Underground. Recently she has also written on depictions of women in film for the American feminist film website Bitch Flicks.

This is the second in a series of ‘Ask the Agent’ webinars, hosted by Will Davies (IdeasTap Director of Programming), intended to give creatives (professional and beginner) the latest insight into the industry and advice and support onhow to improve your chances of finding work. Whether you’re a professional or beginner writer for theatre, TV and film, update your knowledge on how agents work and what they’re looking for in developing a mutually beneficial relationship with a client at this free webinar. The session will be hosted by Will Davies (IdeasTap) and Alexandra Cory (Berlin Associates)

The webinar format will consist of a 30-45 minute Q & A session hosted by Will Davies followed by 45 minutes Q & A from those attending the webinar.

Alex studied English Literature at Edinburgh University where she first started producing shows at Bedlam Theatre & at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was on the young writers group at the Traverse Theatre and was the Edinburgh student producer for the first Theatre Uncut national event in 2011. She was Deputy Co-Ordinator of Visiting Artists at the International Student Drama Festival in 2012 before moving to London and starting in her current position with Berlin Associates

Fractured Lines are looking for writers that have a play or an excerpt of one of a play for four actors, of no longer than 25 minutes. Their new writing show ‘Blaggards’ presents a lively collection of plays from selected emerging, up and coming writers in this fast paced, cabaret style night. Ranging from comedy, to drama, to horror, to romance.

London is full of lonely artists weary of having play’s stuck in drawers, tired of dealing with unanswered emails, overlooked CVs and theatre schedules that appear to be already full. Blaggards has been set up by Fractured Lines and in partnership with COG ARTSpace, and is a seedbed for great art, where artists get the chance to find collaborators, building projects from the ground up. They also get immediate feedback on their work and a sense of continuity and progress.

What they are looking for: plays or excerpts of 25 minutes or less, with a maximum of 4 characters (although, if you have more, they will double up).

How to apply: send your script, which can be no longer than 25 minutes long, it can be a full play or an excerpt of one of your plays. A maximum of 50 words outlining what the play is about. Send with the subject title ‘writers opportunities’ to hello@fracturedlines.com

Deadline: Blaggards takes place twice a month, so check out the website for latest submission date

IdeasTap and Northern Film School are looking for strong, original short film scripts that can be made on a budget of £4,000. There will be 12 winners of this brief. The winners will be invited to take part in a development day in London on 29 November to work on their script. Six scripts will eventually be selected for production.

In January 2015, IdeasTap will then run a brief looking for producers for each of the six projects, and after attaching a producer to each script, they will then run briefs for directors.

IdeasTap are working in partnership with the Northern Film School, at Leeds Beckett University. Together, they will introduce members to industry standards in script development and offer support and mentoring from industry professionals. Creative teams (writer, director, producer) will also have ongoing access to the Northern Film School’s expertise and advice.

Your script can be for an animation, documentary, or fiction film. IdeasTap will be donating no more than £4,000 to each of the final winning six scripts, so try to not write in exotic foreign travel, masses of explosions or vast amounts of special effects. You’ll be free to raise more money for your production; but the idea needs to be something that can be successfully realised for a small budget.

About the Northern Film School

The Northern Film School is part of the Leeds Beckett University’s faculty of Film, Television and Performing Arts. It is one of the largest full-time film schools in the UK with both bachelors and masters degrees, and it is situated in the city centre of Leeds. The School has close working relationships with the national and international funding and skills agencies and student films are regularly screened in festivals.